| Starting to get it in Great Britain. Hopefully the U.S. is next. |
At last, we are having the right argument for our time. Virtually everybody who is in touch with political reality now accepts that the old contest -- socialism vs capitalism -- is over. We all believe, with greater or lesser degrees of enthusiasm, in free-market economics. So the real source of contention that remains is the size and role of the state.
Anyone who thinks that this is a puny arena -- that the boundaries of debate have shrunk to a less inspirational, purely managerial scale -- is mistaken. The passion with which those on the Left are now defending their new turf should make it clear: this fight will be to the death because the power of government to control social and economic outcomes is seen by them as the last plausible incarnation of their moral world-view. The current arguments about welfare reform which the Government has robustly initiated are going to bring this abstract confrontation into the day-to-day experience of national life.
Now it is perfectly understandable that those who have a vested interest in state power -- public sector trade union leaders, for example -- should be prepared to risk everything to preserve it, but have the more thoughtful Left-liberal proponents really thought this through? Are they actually prepared to go down fighting for the idea that the state is the source of social virtue and must be the answer to all of our civic problems? |